Devitte: Lizards, Cannons in Dogfight

This is going to feel familiar. It is familiar. Again, the issue of unsportsmanlike conduct, and the toothless reaction from Major League Lacrosse to “address” it, has to be raised in the wake of the Boston Cannons-Long Island Lizards game from this past weekend.

Allow me to set the scene before we dive into the event in question: The Lizards and the Cannons do not like each other. They are dialectically opposed in terms of geographical sports allegiance, play style and MLL philosophy. Boston is a team built around Paul Rabil (but they have Jordan Burke in net); Long Island is a team built around Drew Adams (but they have Max Seibald playing midfield). In other words, it’s a lot more even on the field than it looks on the papyrus. Both of these teams are in trouble after the last few weeks, but for different reasons; and they only have themselves to blame.

Long Island didn’t exactly beat the tar out of the Cannons in their previous match up in Week 6, but the Lizards did manage to frustrate and stifle Boston’s offense so much that the Cannons went scoreless in the fourth quarter. A team with Rabil, Kevin Buchanan, Ryan Boyle, and Matt Poskay couldn’t manage one goal in an entire period of an MLL game. It is the only time this season that the Cannons have been held without a goal in a full period of play.

However, Boston has been held to two goals or less in a period 11 times this season. They have scored five goals, or less, in a half four times — the most recent of which was this past weekend against Long Island, when they managed just two goals in the third quarter and three in the fourth. To be completely honest, the much-vaunted Cannons offense has been shooting cap-gun rounds for some time now.

Obviously the Lizards are not without their own struggles. The Isle of Long prefers a more grinding style of play, working more off of 6-on-6 matchups than true fast-breaking tempo. They have the best face-off man in the league in Greg Gurenlian; a title he snatched from the forehead of Chris Eck so violently this past weekend that the Colgate alum might want to check his head for missing facial features. The Beastman gives the Lizards more possessions, winning 61.3% — first in the league amongst qualifying draw men. He has also scooped 93 groundballs — also first in the league — 21 more than Chris Eck, and 22 more than Brodie Merrill.

Long Island is second to last in shots on target, 250 total, only four shots above Rochester, which has 246. Their man-up percentage borders on disgraceful as they are just 6 for 28 (21.4% — which is still better than last year’s 21.2% but as you can see — only just. It’s not like 2010 where they couldn’t even hit 20%, but I digress.) after their game against Boston, where they converted one of their two man-up chances in the game thanks to a maizey run from Stephen Peyser.

Peyser himself has been conspicuous by his absence and is suffering through a truly sub-par campaign in 2012 shooting just 16% (when you round up, for inflation or whatever) and netting 11 goals (four 2-pointers) and five assists in nine games. He is fourth on the team in scoring behind the Benjamin Button of lacrosse, Brian Langtry (19G, 10A), Max Seibald (19G, three 2-pointers, 6A) and rookie attackman Matt “Gibby” Gibson (12G, 11A). Not so hot for a guy that looked like the No. 1 option after the trade of Matt Danowski and Stephen Berger to Charlotte. Peyser has sort of played himself into form, he has six goals, two 2-pointers and one assist in his last two games, but is it too late?

For Boston the slope is slippery, and it is surely charging down a dark chasm of its own making. By dropping two games to Long Island, the Cannons have ensured their fate if the Lizards and Cannons end up even-steven at the conclusion of the season. Lizards win — no contest. Conversely, the Lizards — by virtue of their double defeat last weekend will be similarly ousted from the show if Rochester ever gets its act together and starts playing with any consistency.

Boston is flat-out not getting in done in crunch time, hardly becoming of a defending champion. Long Island is winning games by playing a slow and boring brand of lacrosse that relies on using matchups and possession shots. Frankly neither team deserves to set foot in Cambridge, Mass., at the end of August right now. Long Island doesn’t have enough talent to score 20 goals in a game (unless they play the Machine), and Boston doesn’t have the heart to gut out a close game anymore.

Do you want to watch a Championship Weekend without the two best goalies in the league and the two best midfielders in lacrosse for the past 5 years? Is that what you want? Because it is well on it’s way and you should prepare yourself for it. Boston and Long Island just sent each other down the rabbit hole and the title race just blew wide open.

Oh, speaking of things that were blown wide open this weekend, let’s get back to the issue of violent conduct that was raised in the opening. At the end of the first quarter, Parker McKee and Paul Rabil chased down a loose ball close to the end line. Rabil overran it and so did McKee. So in this moment of over-running the ball McKee turns and see Boyle inching towards the ball. McKee — unprovoked — cocked back with both hands and swung his stick right into Boyle’s knee. Boyle buckled and fell over. McKee walked past everyone nonchalantly on his way to the box and apparently said something to the ref that caused the referee to throw another flag. To add inappropriate levity to the situation, I’d like to think it was “2 minutes…Well worth it!” like Gunnar Stahl from D2: The Mighty Ducks, but somehow I doubt that happened.

This act resulted in eight minutes of penalties according to the score sheet, but in reality five minutes of penalties were actually given out, the first two of which were not releaseable. I have no qualms with the punishment, but why was McKee not thrown out of the game? It was, arguably, more despicable than Casey Powell’s shot on Michael Evans, which some have argued was thrown blindly. This check was not thrown blindly it was thrown to injure. The fact that McKee was allowed to return to that game AND allowed to play this weekend is disgraceful. Why are players somehow immune to ejections now? When did that happen? When a player accumulates five minutes of penalties in a game AND is issued a game misconduct, they don’t play again. It’s not that hard to figure out. Three interns and I will do it for free!

McKee was fined an undisclosed amount for the shot. A fine....how crippling.

It’s time to grow up and control your players, MLL league office. You don’t even have a disciplinary committee; probably because you never discipline anyone. The one-game suspension for Casey Powell came the week before the All-Star Game and at the time was akin to suspending a golden retriever from swimming in the family pool in the winter. It is unacceptable to govern the greatest [uh…field?] lacrosse league in the world like a drunken sheriff governs a sleepy hamlet. Wake up.